WHEN Kate Hazell misheard the name of a station during a train journey with her partner Ed Hawkesworth it inspired the couple to create a new comic book character.

Now they are taking Sam Jamwitch, a witch made from jam who lives in a house of toast, to comic-book shops across the country following the launch of their Halloween spook-tacular edition on Saturday.

Earlier this month the comic, developed in Oxford, was nominated for the best comic prize at the British Comic Awards.

It did not make the final shortlist, but Miss Hazell and Mr Hawkesworth are aiming to take it to the international comic book festival in Angouleme, France, in the next couple of years.

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Freelance illustrator Miss Hazell, 30, said she was “delighted” a story that began as a bit of fun was becoming so successful.

She said: “Sam Jamwitch is inspired by my mum’s raspberry jam and one day when we were travelling by train I got the name of a station mixed up.

“That got us talking about mixed-up words and Sam Jamwitch was born.

“I think it casts a light on the maturity levels of our relationship because we talk nonsense all the time.

“We were delighted that Sam Jamwitch made the British Comic Awards longlist.

“It’s a life-changing comic that everyone should read.”

The Sam Jamwitch comics chart the irreverent life of Sam, a witch who is not be be messed with.

So far she has chopped up and eaten pigs who fell asleep on the job while working for her and turned scared skeletons into Halloween jelly.

Mr Hawkesworth, from Summertown, and Miss Hazell, from near Thame, met at Steventon’s Truck Festival three years ago and began work on Sam Jamwitch last year.

They now live in London, where Mr Hawkesworth, 36, works for the Department for International Development.

He said: “Sam Jamwitch is the first comic I’ve ever written.

“We liked the idea of a silly witch who lives in a house of toast.

“Sam Jamwitch is a small independent operation but with big ambitions. She will stop at nothing less than world domination.”

The Sam Jamwitch comics are on sale at the Old Fire Station in George Street, Oxford, and online at katehazell.com.

Exclusive printed editions of the Halloween special, Sam Jamwitch and the Skelly Ghosts, will be available at Albion Beatnik bookstore, in Walton Street, Oxford.


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